Undersong

You opened your eyes and looked around. You were in the purple hallway where Mom died. When you breathed, you could see a trail of white smoke streaming from your mouth. You wrapped your arms around yourself and shivered. The room was unusually cold. You looked down the path and saw that the door at the end was cracked. White light and little flurries of snow slipped through from outside.

You walked to it, bracing yourself against the chilly atmosphere. You opened the door, filling the end of the hallway with drafts of cold air and the unnatural twilight of the Underground. You remembered everything. The bush to your left held a camera, and down the path was where you first met Sans.

You walked on.

There was no one to meet you this time. Everywhere you went was nothing but desolation. The chill air and the shiver it sent down your spine remained the only constants during your journey. A still, quiet voice of despair clutched at your heart.

All the homes of Snowdin sat empty. All the lights had long ago flickered out. You searched through the dusty darkness, but there was nothing of note to be found. The door to Sans and Papyrus’s house stood locked. You even tried the back way, but you didn’t have the key. You weren’t even carrying your phone with you.

You shambled along the cold road, heading out to Waterfall. Maybe something there could give you a clue as to what you should be doing.

“Hllerp!”

You stepped back. A sound like that of a muffled voice had come from beneath your feet.

“Hello?” you asked tentatively to the ground.

“Hrmarn?”

You dug into the snow. After a moment, a white dome appeared under your fingertips.

“P-Papyrus?” you said while pulling on the dome with all your strength. His head escaped its icy encasement with a pop.

“Ow!” he said in your hands. Then he unsquinted his eye-sockets and stared at you. “Oh, Human! Now, I know our last meeting was a little... murdery.” He paused, looking down. “But! You’ve come to see me! So that must mean you want me to guide you down the right path in life! And I, the Great Papyrus, would be remiss if I did not accept your young soul into my tutelage. Perhaps our first lesson should be... let’s not kill people! I realize now that this might be a hard lesson to grasp at first, but keep trying and I’m sure you’ll get it!” He stopped talking and smiled at you.

You held his head close to your chest. You didn’t want him to see the tears in your eyes.

“Um, well, now that I think about it... there’s, uh, not any people left to kill, is there?”

“They’re all just on vacation, right? They’re all just having so much fun they don’t want to come back. Why can’t you say it like that...” Your sobbing breath made pitiful sounds on the wind.

“Hey! Are you crying? Well, that’s okay. I’m crying too.”

You looked down. Hot drops fell from your face and covered his cold cheekbones. You tucked his head underneath your arm and continued on the path. The cold air retreated, and in its place came the damp drafts of Waterfall. Sounds of the dripping water and sloshing river filled the cavern, while light from the star-stones kept your path visible. You walked through the empty caverns. Your breath remained the only sound of life in the Underground.

“So... where are we going?” asked Papyrus from your arms.

Even though you weren’t entirely sure of your destination, you did have somewhere in mind. You knew that, no matter what, you had to get outside, past the barrier broken long ago. Out there lay the answer.

“We’re getting out of here,” you said simply.

Papyrus stirred in your hands. “Mm... I seem to recall the shortcut to Undyne’s house was near here. Hotland is only a few rooms past there.”

You stood at the bank of the river running through the caverns. You stared at the bank opposite you.

“Usually there’s a bird here who’ll help you,” said Papyrus. “Uh... did you—?”

You looked down into the water. “I can swim across.”

“Er...”

You didn’t wait for his protest. With one swift motion you tossed him to the other side where he landed rather indignantly on his side. His sound of pain echoed off the walls and died further down the pathway.

You took a deep breath and dove in.

The water was painfully cold. It soaked your clothes and bit into your arms and legs, stinging your face with its ferocious chill. You held your breath and swam through the crystal river. Your numbed fingers grabbed hold of the other side just as your legs gave up the last of their strength. You crawled out of the water coughing and shivering.

“Don’t kill yourself!” shouted Papyrus. “If you die, I won’t have anyone left to talk to.”

You picked up his head again. “Don’t worry, I won’t. Never again.”

This placated his plea, and he sat in your arms silently.

“Undyne’s house... that’s right around the corner,” you said. “Is it still...?” You walked forward and stopped.

A few feet to your left stood what was once Undyne’s house. Despite all the time, its glass window panes still glowed with fire. The light made white tracks over the black stone. It seemed to be in a very sad state.

What really surprised you, however, was the large suit of armor standing in front of the house, its back turned to you.

“Undyne!” Papyrus leaped a little in your grip.

She turned around and said nothing.

The glow in her eye made you take a step back. “Uh...”

“Hey, can you help us get to the surface from here? We’d both really like your company!”

“Papyrus, I don’t think—”

She held up her hand. A blue spear appeared in her palm.

“What? Is there an enemy behind us? I can’t see! Frisk, can you turn around?”

You did so and began a mad dash down the path. The spear she’d been holding hit the stone where you had been standing. It disappeared into the air, leaving a deep mark.

“Wait! Where are you going so quickly? Undyne’s back there!”

You kept running, breathing heavy. The sound of metal stepping on stone followed you closely.

After a short sprint you ducked into a branching path to the right. Relief filled your face when you saw the ferry sitting in its usual place on the water.

He turned to you and nodded. “Care for a—?”

“No time!” you said, leaping into the boat. “But, yes please. Hotland.”

“Dum de dum,” he said in that ghastly voice. “Are we in a hurry?” The boat floated back and forth in the water.

A blue spear whistled through the air and embedded itself into the side of the boat.

“Just a bit.”

“Please don’t do that,” he said, dislodging Undyne’s spear with his long stick. “Okay. Hotland, you say? I’ll do double-time. But it’ll cost twice as much.” Another spear whistled through the air, this time grazing your face and plunging into the water. A bead of red fell down your cheek.

“Cost? What? Whatever! Just please go!”

“Right away.”

The sudden momentum of the boat nearly flung you and Papyrus into the river. The top tip rose to a dangerous degree, the wake behind you was obscene, and the wind forcing itself into your face caused your eyes to cry.

Papyrus made sounds of entertained terror while rolling around between your legs. You turned around to tell him to slow down, but your command was cut short when the boat stopped. You were thrown forward, and your back hit the front of the boat. Papyrus rolled into your chest. The two-sided attack had you coughing hard in an attempt to regain your breath.

The idle sounds of the water returned to the cavern.

You peeked over the gunwale. Sure enough, the outside of Alphys’s lab met your sight.

“Well.. ah...” you sputtered. You stood up, shaking. “Thank you?” You clambered out of the boat and swayed when your feet touched solid ground. You set Papyrus down.

“What was that about money for the boat ride?” asked Papyrus. “I thought this service was supposed to be free!”

“Oh, no. 500 for the ferry. Your friend racked up quite a tab. We’re at 4,500 now, I believe.”

“Am I supposed to pay all that?”

“If you want a ride across the river after you die.”

“What does that even mean?”

The boat started floating away. “How should I know? This is your subconscious hallucination, not mine.”

You sat down on the bank and watched as the riverman left you.

“He left us!” you said at last.

From the West the sound of metal bounding over stone met your ears. A hellish blue glow emanated from the far wall, pouring out of the hole to Waterfall.

You shook your head and grabbed Papyrus’s. “Maybe the elevators still work.”

You ran North. You found the doors, and they opened for you. When you got inside, you saw that all but one of the buttons were dimmed. You pressed it and waited as the elevator hummed through Hotland.

The bell rang on your arrival.

You stared past the doors as they opened. You squinted when the dry wind came in. You stepped out, and the full brunt of the hot air hit you. Still unsure of your safety, you took Papyrus to the resort. You didn’t even spare a glance down its dark alleyways before strutting inside.

It was lit, unlike Snowdin. But it was empty all the same. A briefcase lay toppled on the tiles, and papers about inane things sat scattered over the lobby floor.

You tried the first elevator. To your surprise, it opened without protest. You stepped inside and tapped the button that closed the doors. The long ride had begun.

“Honestly, I’ve never seen the inside of this elevator,” said Papyrus. “Half the time it’s too busy to use. The rest of the time it’s being taken out of service for maintenance.”

You listened to the dull hum. You imagined the floors flying by, falling below you one by one.

The door opened and you stepped out. You entered the last corridor of the castle.

You looked down the hall. Sans stood there with his hands in his pockets, still smiling.

You had never seen him frown.

“So, you came back,” he said. “Your face has changed. But it still seems unsatisfied.”

“Sans!” said Papyrus. “Did you find your underwear in the dryer? I didn’t have the time to fold it...”

Sans’s jaw twitched, and one side of his smiling teeth gnashed together. He stared at you through his eye sockets. Blue pinpricks of light glowed at you from deep within his skull.

“I was supposed to make your life a living Hell,” he said. “That’s something like justice, right? Even if you never stopped, at least you’d be met with unending death. But I guess I kind of suck at my job after all, don’t I? Instead of deterring you, all I did was make you want to beat me more. That kind of determination... that pure pursuit of strength for strength’s sake.” Sans’s left eye glowed brighter, becoming an iris of blue and orange. “I can’t say I don’t know the feeling.”

“But I didn’t want any of this!” you protested. “I... it wasn’t me, that isn’t who I am.” Your heart ached hard. Your eyes felt too tired to cry.

Water washed into your recent wound anyway, spilling down your cheek with salt and blood.

“See!” said Papyrus. “Frisk doesn’t want to hurt anyone. And with my guidance, they won’t!”

“It’s the other one,” you said. “The one in control of my body. I couldn’t do anything... I can’t...” You knelt down on the ground.

“You know that hurt you feel when you do something wrong?” asked Sans, placing a hand over his chest. “What if you could lock that all away? Would you do it? You could do what you really wanted without worry.”

“Shut up,” you said, still crying. Anger welled in your heart, and you clutched Papyrus close.

“When other people got hurt, you wouldn’t have to feel hurt, even if you were the one who hurt them.”

“Stop it!” you told him.

“It’s not too late. You can prevent a repeat of what we went through here.”

You opened your eyes and looked up. Sans was gone.

Metal on the stone again, the sound sent shivers down your spine. From behind you something large and enraged bounded up. You didn’t take the time to look back. Carrying Papyrus against your chest, you ran down the hallway, past where Sans had been standing. You flew through the doorway, into the throne room’s antechamber. The doorway glowed.

You stepped into the sunlight. Its glow warmed your face. But you had no time to enjoy the sensation. It took you only a moment to step through the next threshold and see dimness again, though you had to blink a spot or two out of your eyes before they readjusted.

This was it. Before you stood the door to the barrier... or to what was once the barrier holding back monsters from contact with humanity. You stepped inside. A slight gasp escaped your lips.

It was all wrong.

The hall led up to a panoramic image of a garden at nighttime. You saw six ponies standing in front of you, all having a stance of suspicion. Darkness hid their faces.

“This is as far as you’ll go.”

“We’re not going to let you hurt anyone else!”

“Are you ready, girls?”

You ran up to the image. You hit your nose and fell to the ground. Papyrus rolled out of your hands. You held onto where it hurt while stretching out an arm to them. “Wait! I’m not going to hurt anyone! I don’t...” The sound of bone hitting metal caught your attention. You turned around.

Undyne stood over you, her foot on top of his skull.

“Undyne!” said Papyrus from under her foot. “I was worried you wouldn’t catch up... But, now that you’re here, we can explain that this all has been a big misunderst—”

Her foot cut him off when it came down completely. His skull splintered, and the sound scattered across the room. Small shards of his skull tumbled toward your feet. You pressed yourself further against the invisible wall, your legs working to push yourself as far away from her as possible.

But there was nowhere to go.

She held up her hand. One last blue spear appeared.

“Do you think that a magical rainbow will make all your problems go away?”

It was your voice, but it wasn’t coming from your mouth. It wasn’t coming from you at all.

“Do you really believe that something like ‘trusting in your friends’ or ‘doing the right thing’ can be a substitute for actual strength? Go ahead. Give me your best shot. I will show you what good your friendship will do you!”

You sounded like... the villain of a Saturday morning cartoon.

She moved quickly. Her spear needed only a moment to tear through your chest. Its head hit the barrier behind you, where you heard it clink and crack. A secondary crack sounded, and you saw white light in your peripheral vision.

You coughed, and it came out red.

You were spilling out onto the floor, far too much to clean up, small rivers of red.

Even the white light turned bright red. Darkness spotted your vision. You couldn’t breathe. You couldn’t move.

You heard another crack, this time from inside you. Your soul was about to break open. Your heart was about to die.

The world disappeared into darkness. You felt your heart splitting apart. You knew it could shatter into a thousand pieces at any second. But you had to hold on. You wouldn’t die. You had DETERMINATION!

You held your heart together. It kept cracking. Small shards crumbled off and fell into the void. The dimness grasped it tighter and tighter, until it was only a small speck of murky red in a sea of black.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no...!

From the distance a flood appeared. Its rainbow waves washed over your heart. You breathed in as the cracks all along your heart re-fused. You opened your eyes when you felt the sudden surge of energy throughout your body. Within a second, you were completely rejuvenated. You felt better than ever, like the whole world had come together just to give you new life.

“So that’s what they did, then,” I said.

You looked across the void.

I smiled and said, “Alright, then. Can you really kill me? If you do, their world will be saved. Not only that, but you’ll be free from bondage once more. However, in my opinion, the obvious option is to stop this nonsense and finish what we started. But you... That’s not something you’ll let me do. Not if you know you can stop me. Hell, even if you knew exactly how futile this intervention is, you’d still try to stop me.”

You were going to try to stop me. Even if there was no point in persevering, you’d still do everything you could to stop the slaughter.

“See?” I laughed. “I can get into your head.” I pointed a finger at my temple. “But can you get into mine?”

You stepped forward.

“What’s wrong? You’re not very talkative. Don’t you usually like to stumble over the same three words a dozen or so times until you find the right combination that will unlock the ‘Pacifist Path’? Then we can have tea and crumpets and be best friends! I’m sure that we’ll even find a way to reset the world so that all the ponies who died can be resurrected, right?”

You stepped closer and stared at me.

“Though, since I can’t kill you without dying myself, and you’ll refuse to fight me... We’re at a bit of a standoff, aren’t we?”

You were far too close to me now.

“Hey, would you step bac—”

You threw your arms around me, saying, “Listen, neither one of us is a monster. We’re just a kid. We don’t have to do this. We don’t have anything to prove.” You were crying into my shirt. Your tears made dark green splotches on the fabric.

I wasn’t smiling any more.

“You don’t get it, do you?” I said while you held me. “Do you still think that you’re above consequences?”

“You were the one—!”

I stopped your angry outburst with one word: “No.”

“I couldn’t do anything to stop you.”

“Stop lying to yourself, Frisk. You only want to believe that there was nothing you could do, that I was the one in control. Deep down you wanted to know... Somewhere inside you, there was a morbid curiosity. And as long as it wasn’t really ‘Frisk’ who did it, you wouldn’t have to feel guilty. If I could do it, you wouldn’t have to.”

“What about now, then?” you shouted. “If I can control what we do, then I choose to stop! I don’t want to do this anymore! I just... I just...” You fell to the ground, clutching my shirt. You were running out of tears again. Snot ran out of your nose. “I just want to go home.”

“If you wish for something hard enough, if you want something with all your heart, you might actually get it.” I pulled out a small key from my pocket. “Do you know what this is, Frisk?”

You stared at the key in my hand.

“This is the key to your soul, Frisk. This is what you traded for the chance to go back.”

Your eyes widened.

“Because you wanted to abnegate all responsibility so badly, I granted your wish.” I held the tip of the key to your chest. “You truly aren’t the one in control anymore.” I turned it. The lock on your prison gate engaged.

Due to the darkness, the rainbow light made my eyes water and filled them with small stars. The statues around us had made long shadows along the garden grass. I kept smiling.

“Did it work?” whispered Rainbow Dash.

“I’m not sure,” answered Twilight.

“Oh, sure, I’m ready to set down my weapon and go on a big picnic with everyone here. Nevermind all the death and destruction up until this point. Here, I have several ideas on how we can handwave all that away...” I moved my palm across the air, wiggling my fingers for emphasis. “Or, y’know—” I leveled the spear at them— “We could have a real fight for once?”

Pinkie Pie squinted and pursed her lips. She snapped up to me in an instant and put her face right up against mine.

“That’s not how this is supposed to go,” she said tightly. “If you get us off-script—”

“I’m real sick of your story-savvy shtick.” I aimed for her heart. Her unarmored underbelly made for an easy target. Her blood spilled onto the lawn. She stepped back with a face of shock. She mouthed something that I couldn’t read before collapsing in a pink heap of frizzy hair and flesh. I turned to the rest, pointed at them, and said, “It’s five of you against one of me. This should be easy.”

Rainbow Dash flew at me, leading with her back feet. Her hooves hit my chest and flung me backward. The impact caused me to skid several feet over the grass, staining my shirt with streaks of green.

“Dash!” called Applejack.

She flew up over me. Her front hoof came down. I had only a moment to pull my head away before her hoof slammed into the ground, slinging up small bits of dirt. I grinned up at the anger in her face.

“You’re too slow,” I said.

Her expression of fury grew in depth. She held up her hoof again, ready to crush my head on the lawn.

“That’s enough!” called out Twilight from behind us.

Rainbow Dash’s expression shifted to surprise as she slid backward suddenly.

I raised myself up on my palms and stared at them. I coughed and said, “Are you serious? You were on the brink of victory. Why did you throw it away?” Blood trickled down my chin.

“She’s still breathing!” called Fluttershy from behind her. “But... she’s hurt badly. We need to get her help immediately.”

“I don’t want any more of my friends to get hurt,” said Twilight Sparkle. “I will deal with this. Everyone else, help get Pinkie Pie some proper medical care.”

“Twilight!” protested Rainbow Dash.

“Go! We don’t have much time.”

Rainbow Dash looked to her injured friend. She flew over and helped Fluttershy pick her up. “Beat that evil weirdo into dust,” she said. “For me.”

Twilight didn’t respond. She stared at me with extreme attention.

The pegasus ponies lifted off. Rarity and Applejack followed close behind, providing ground support.

“Sending the injured away? Stepping up to fight me alone? This is merely a repeat of my last encounter. And I promise you,” I said while standing up. “The outcome won’t be any different this time around.”

Her eyes glowed. Her horn had the aura of magical energy all around it.

I picked up my spear, still smiling.

“She won’t be alone this time, though.”

I lowered my weapon and looked around. Twilight stiffened her stance.

A white unicorn in a nice suit stepped out from behind a statue. This was the unicorn Celestia had been speaking to earlier tonight.

I chuckled. “So you’re going to throw away your life as well? Who gets to rule this place when you’re gone, anyway?” I asked.

A key around his neck levitated up into the air. “You misunderstand. I have no intention to die. I’m not even going to fight you. Truthfully, I couldn’t even if I tried.” He turned to the statue beside him. “The thing is, we have a ‘secret weapon’, though Celestia said to only... that this was a last...” His words faltered. He was trying with all his might to keep composure. But his regal air disbanded in a fit of tears when he said: “W-when Celestia fell, I kn-new he was the only one who could stop you...” He placed the key at the base of the statue and turned it.

I had never seen a creature quite like this one before. The white marble portrayed a patchwork beast standing up and singing. When the unicorn turned his key at the base of the statue, cracks formed from its one hoof to its mis-matched horns.

The light in Twilight’s eyes dissipated as she turned to look at what was happening behind her.

“Keep your head in the game!” I shouted.

I reeled back and took aim. My small body didn’t give me much leverage to work with, but at such a close range, I was sure that I could put enough strength behind my attack to deal a significant amount of preliminary damage. Exhaling hard, I threw the spear like a lance. It left my hand and flew through the air.

She turned back around just in time to see it strike her. It pierced through her side, and the darkness was filled with the sound of blood splattering on stone.

“Huh. You don’t bleed like the other one did.”

Her furry face showed an unnatural pallor. She coughed and moved her lips, but only blood came out. She fell to the ground when her legs would no longer stand.

“Oh well,” I said, tearing the spear from her body. “That’s not important. For now—”

The statue exploded.

The creature who had been stone a moment ago stood stretching out his limbs. He yawned wide, showing mismatched teeth to go with the rest of his mismatched body.

“Mnyh?” he said, looking around. “Did my alarm go off early?” A small clock appeared beside him. He picked it up and stared at its unmoving hands. “No, no. Then, what? And why is it so dark?” He placed a talon on the smaller hand and spun it around. As if we were standing under a gyroscope the whole sky turned around us, it’s bluish colors blurring together before being replaced by clouded light and sunshine. “That’s... better, but not quite.”

The unicorn looked between the fallen Twilight and this standing stranger. His face could not settle on a suitable expression of dignified horror, so it went with ‘frightened like a child’ instead.

He turned the clock upside down and fiddled with it more. Bits of sky moved hither and thither. After he had finished, the world was covered by unordered splotches of nighttime and daytime. That was one trick I’d never seen before.

“So, are you going to play exterior decorator all day, or are you going to fight me?”

He turned his head to us two. “Huh? Fight you? What are you—” He noticed Twilight lying on the ground. “Oh, I see.”

He disappeared. I felt him place a paw on my shoulder.

“Listen, kid. I don’t think you understand how this works.”

I took the spear and swung it behind me. But he wasn’t there.

“We get our monologue. We get our time in the limelight. We get the fans cheering on our psychopathic antics.” His voice seemed to come from everywhere, all at once. “But when the magical explosive rainbow hits you—” The house lights of the world dimmed. A single beam struck down in front of me, where he stood holding a cane and dressed in the attire of a stage performer. “You take a dive.” He struck some heroic pose before turning back into stone.

The unicorn beside me said nothing. To be honest, I was at a loss for words as well.

He burst out of his own stone belly. “Because if you don’t!”

“If you start singing, I will murder you. Well, I will do that anyway. But I’ll be sure to make it unnecessarily painful and drawn out as well.”

He stepped up to me, his face near to mine. He was smiling, though I couldn’t tell whether it was a genuine expression or one just for show. “Because if you don’t, you’re going to have a bad time.”